Sweet and Salty
by Maria - Madoka Ayukawa
Summary: Sequel to Chocolate Taste. Jet has his own story when it comes to kissing... JetxJoe slash, for 30 Kisses.


"Sweet and Salty" 

Pairing: Jet/Joe. Shonen-ai.  
Fandom: Cyborg Soldier 009.  
Written for 30 Kisses. Themes: #1 (look over here), #25 (fence) and #30 (kiss).  
Disclaimer: Not mine. Ishinomori's.

* * *

Jet Link always associates his first kiss with the taste of blood. 

The one who gave it to him was Patty, the younger sister of one of his gang friends. That night, some punks were trying to do God-knows-what to her, and Jet caught them. He grabbed Patty by an arm to pull her out of trouble, and after the gangsters chased after them, they managed to jump over an abandoned factory's barbed fence, sneak in, and hide there until their enemies were gone. He had a cut on his lip, which was bleeding, and Patty tried to clean his face with a piece of fabric she ripped out of her already torn skirt; when he wanted to pass as a tougher guy and told her to kiss it better... she actually did it, pressing her mouth against his' softly. And when she pulled away seconds later, he licked his lips, and could taste his own blood in them.

He doesn't really feel like either romancizing or fully rejecting this memory that at times came to his mind. These were hard times, and he knows it damn well. However, it wasn't the only moment in those harsh years that was somewhat less bitter or sad... but due to the circumstances, it wasn't as prettily romantic or wonderfully unforgettable as the usual clichés would say. Yet, a man like him isn't able to fully make it fit in any category... It didn't suck, but it wasn't that great, whatever. And since it happened few nights before he was kidnapped and made a Cyborg, he never knew what happened later to both Patty and her older brother. They could be dead, maybe not...

Jet has no way to know, and he doesn't really want to. All of those years are behind him; Black Ghost may have had the best scientists that money could afford, but outside of the failed Psychic Assassins project, they weren't able to travel in time.

What would he do if he could time jump? The time he and his friends did so, they landed in a complete Apocalypse on Earth - they had to rescue Joe and his psychic sort-of friend Lina from there, go back to their era together, and defeat Gamo Whisky and his ally Cain to change that bleak, dark fate. Would he dare to try something like what Lina and her people originally tried to do before Black Ghost found them? Would he try to stop himself from accepting the Black Ghost's offer that covered their evil intentions?

Well, shit. He has no psychic powers that allow him to turn the clock back and forth. He only possesses his rudimentary accelerator and the jets in his legs, and with those, it was enough to bring Joe back from the Gates of Hell...

Joe Shimamura. The things that the initially naïve Japanese young man did to him and the others. Jet at first thought he was a fool and completely out of touch with the Harsh Real World, a sort of Quixote fighting against his very own Windmills (that quote was from GB, not him) and refusing to see the cruelty around. But gradually, Joe's faith and love got to him, subtly changing his jaded heart and showing him that there was still hope out there.

And Joe is at his apartment in that day. Ironically, it's Valentines, the day when everyone is practically anxious to be with their Significant Others. Jet had figured that he'd spend it with Francoise, his best friend and the person he thought Joe loved, but... here he is, and he had spent all the day with him. Jet isn't the most... sensitive person in the world, but even a fool like him clearly knows what that meant.

And he does have something in mind to counter, as well as a secret of his own to reveal.

"Joe, stop".

"Stop what?", the Japanese man asks. He has a chocolate bar in his hand, which is missing quite a bit of its chocolaty body. The rest - oh, Jet doesn't even have to wonder where it is.

"Don't play games".

"I'm not!".

Yes, Joe is starting to get nervous. When he says his last words, Shimamura's voice sounds slightly muffled. And not precisely because he was eating sweets some seconds ago.

"Stop the crap, Joe". And Jet gets up from his couch. "If you have something to say to me tonight, go and do it. I hate to have you hiding stuff from me".

A-ha. Joe couldn't say a word. That proves Jet's point. He walks towards the shocked Joe and stands up very close to him...

"Next time...", he whispers, grabbing Joe by the shoulders. The Japanese man doesn't resist, but he looks right into his eyes, like wordlessly telling him 'I'm not scared of you; go and tell me whatever you want!'.

"Next time wha...?".

The next moment, Jet is kissing Joe. He's also pulling him in a tight and suddenly desperate embrace, his arms firmly wrapped around Joe's waist and back. He decides not to care anymore about what happened to him in the past, or what both Patty and his first kiss mean to him after all those years; he wants to taste his moment, grasp it, tell Joe so many things through the lip lock he's giving to him even knowing that this may cause a complete train wreck...

However, Joe doesn't push him away. And he could easily do so, since he's the most powerful of the Cyborg Team, second to only Geronimo Jr. in terms of raw strength... and instead, he's relaxing and kissing Jet back, parting his lips to let Jet taste the melted chocolate that was still in his tongue...

When the kiss is over, Jet keeps his arms around Joe's body, and whispers in the younger man's ear: "Next time you want to tell me that you love me or something else, say it out loud. That way I'll be able to say or do something about it, you idiot".

Joe stares at the other man, smirking. "I'll remember that, Jet. But I you're so interested, then you should ask too...".

"Point taken...". Jet then stops, slightly bites his lower lip, and sighs. "And next time, remind me not to ever kiss you when you have your mouth full of super-sweet chocolate".

At that, Joe can't help but laughing. "To think that Jimmy made me promise that our first kiss would taste of chocolate...". He stuck his still-chocolate-tainted tongue at the other man. "Seems I overdid it, though".

"Oh, shut up already...", and Jet pretends to be upset at his boyfriend.

But even then, he can feel how the sweetness of the chocolate melts and washes the salty taste of blood away.


End file.
